2008 EXPO Conference Presenters

	Tim Ammon of Management Partnership Services, Inc. is a frequent presenter at industry conferences on performance measurement, cost control and operations management. Tim's expertise includes system implementation and use, as well as evaluating bus routes and schedules. MPS has analyzed over 150 different transportation operations in 23 states and the Province of Ontario. Tim holds a master's degree in public administration with a specialization in urban management.
	Pete Baxter is a 28-year veteran of the Indiana Department of Education and is the current state director of pupil transportation. He is the general conference chairperson for the 15th National Congress on School Transportation, which will be held in May 2010 and prior has served as chair of several NCST committees as well as serving as the Indiana State Delegation chair to the 12th, 13th and 14th Congresses. Baxter is a past president of the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services and the National Association of Pupil Transportation. He is a seasoned speaker and author on the national, regional and state level.
	Dr. Linda Bluth is well-known throughout the school transportation industry as a national speaker and writer on issues involving special needs and transportation. Her day – and sometimes night – job is that of director of the Office of Quality Assurance and Monitoring in the Maryland State Department of Education’s Division of Special Education/Early Intervention Services. Among her many pupil transportation feats was as chairperson for the Infants, Toddlers and Preschool Writing Committee at the 14th National Congress on School Transportation in 2005 and receiving NAPT’s Distinguished Service Award in 1999. She is the current president-elect of NAPT.
	Brent Chaston is the director of transportation for Park City School District in Utah and was instrumental in developing the district’s minimum specifications program for procurement of school buses. Previously, as the transportation trainer/risk coordinator for Jordan School District from 1993 to 2005, he developed and implemented instructional and risk management programs and procedures. He is a member of the Utah State Office of Education State Certified School Bus Driver Instructor Committee and has been and is involved in the development of the current instructional program for all school bus drivers and personnel in the state of Utah. Chaston has a degree in accounting from the University of Utah, and an associate degree in business management from Salt Lake Community College. He has been involved in school transportation since 1971, starting as a school bus driver.
	Denny Coughlin supervises 215 school buses and 175 support vehicles as the fleet operations manager for Minneapolis Public Schools. He is active at the state and national level in developing a number of training programs for school bus drivers, mechanics, directors, and administration. He has trained fire and rescue, law enforcement and emergency medical personnel from all over the country on school bus construction and design. Denny is also president of School Bus Training Company, which consults and trains school bus shops in a variety of topics.
	Cheri Clymer began her transportation career in 1982 as a substitute school bus driver and drove for eight years, many of these spent on special education routes. In 1989, Cheri advanced to the position of NAPT certified driver instructor, a position she still enjoys. Clymer is an emergency management and planning specialist for Thompson, Colo., School District Transportation as well as a district incident response team member. A speaker and instructor on the NAPT emergency management curriculum for the past five years, she co-authored NAPT’s “Emergency Guidelines.
	Dr. Duane L. Dobbert is a professor at Florida Gulf Coast University and Capella University with 39 years of experience in the criminal justice field. He has trained law enforcement officers, educators, mental health professionals, and attorneys across the United States and consulted nature of sexual predators and how to identify them. Most recently, Dr. Dobbert wrote the internationally-recognized book "Halting the Sexual Predators Among Us" and most recently authored the training program, "School Bus Drivers: The 1st Line of Defense Against Sexual Predators." He is a clinical member of the Prototype Child Abduction Response Team (CART).
	Dick Fischer began his 50-plus year career as a school bus driver in 1952. By the age of 23, he was director of transportation for a California school district. During his tenure as a corporate director of safety and training at Associated Bus Co. and later at ARA Transportation, Fischer started nine federally-mandated school bus integration systems, the largest at Los Angeles Unified School District. He began his own world-wide school bus consultant service in 1977, performing studies, training staff, investigating accidents and providing expert witness testimony. Fischer testified in 1972 before Congress on School Bus Standard 17. He received a letter of recognition from President Nixon in 1968 for his efforts in developing National School Bus Safety Week, and was given the National Council Distinguished Service Safety award in 1996. Fischer received NAPT Distinguished Service Award in 2004 and was inducted into the NAPT Hall of Fame in 2007.
	Pauline Gervais currently holds the position of executive director of transportation for Denver Public Schools, the second largest school district in Colorado, and has been involved in transportation for over 30 years. Over the past 11 years, her focus and passion has been in the area of special education transportation. Gervais has presented at local, state and national conferences, and is the past president of the Colorado State Pupil Transportation Association, where she currently serves as a trustee. Pauline also serves on the Board of Advisors of the National Conference and Exhibition on Transporting Students with Disabilities and Preschoolers and is a tenured faculty member.
	Tina Heily is the author and developer of the nationally-recognized Enterprise for Progress in the Community (EPIC) Transportation Safety Education Curriculum for Pre-School Children. She collaborated with the Migrant and Seasonal Head Start program to provide Grantees with a developmentally appropriate curriculum focusing on the safety skills and concepts for safe transportation practices. Heily has been in the early childhood education field for the past 25 years, 13 of those employed with EPIC. She is well known throughout the Head Start community and provides training, technical assistance and presentations to educators and transportation staff at the local, state, and national level. Her areas of expertise include curriculum development, program design and management systems, environmental design, and coaching practices.
	Diana Hollander is the pupil transportation program officer at the Nevada Department of Education, pupil transportation has become “the best job I have ever had.” Hollander manages the state’s pupil transportation program and has been in her position for 13 years. She is responsible for school bus standards, the School Bus Driver Training Manual, Out-of-Service Criteria and other regulatory issues. Previously, she worked for the Community College of Southern Nevada. Hollander also holds a bachelor’s degree in History from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
	As president and COO of Traxis Financial Group, Kenneth P. Kaminsky directs all operations, sales and marketing activities, strategic planning and financial forcasting for Blue Bird Financial Services and NABI Financial Services. He is the former vice president of business development for the Trade Payables Services division of General Electric Commercial Finance and federal market leader for GE’s Government Financial Services. Kaminsky was also chief growth officer for Orbian Corporation managing all front-end activities and sales initiatives.
	Charley Kennington started his career in school busing as a transportation director in Gonzales, Texas in May 1986. Two years later, he became director of Waco, TX school transportation for Durham Transportation where he served until July 1999, when he was appointed to the Texas Department of Public Safety as Program Administrator of School Bus Transportation. In 2007, after stepping down as Texas' state director and president-elect of NASDPTS, Kennington became responsible for Transportation Solutions with Region 4 ESC. He has also held board positions with the Southeastern States Pupil Transportation and National Special Needs conferences, as well as the Pupil Transportation Safety Institute and Texas Operation Lifesaver.
	Mike Kenney has been the Washington State Regional Transportation/Specifications Coordinator since 1998, but his career in transportation started 20 years earlier as a special needs school bus driver. Two years after moving up to become the transportation supervisor/mechanic at Eastern Washington School District in 1986, Kenny became certified as a Washington State school bus driver instructor. Over the years, Kenny has served on the Washington Association for Pupil Transportation board of directors and as its president, and on the National School Transportation Specifications and Procedures body writing committee since 1998.
	Peter Lawrence began his school bus industry career in 1988 as a school bus mechanic. He advanced his career to hold positions as a school bus driver, group leader, head mechanic, bus driver trainer/safety coordinator, head bus driver and currently is the director of transportation at Fairport Central Schools. Education has always been a priority for Peter as he has devoted his spare time to completing his secondary education. He holds degrees in Automotive Technology, Managing Human Resources, and an M.S. in Management. Currently, he is attending SUNY Brockport to attain his Certificate of Advanced Study in School Business Administration. Peter is a nationally Certified Director of Pupil Transportation (CDPT), through the National Association for Pupil Transportation (NAPT). He has taken over 25 NAPT professional development courses and teaches regularly for NAPT across the nation.
	Michael McGrady has served as deputy director of the National Head Start Association for the past 12 years, assisting the president and CEO in directing the office’s day-to-day operations and training Head Start staff on numerous issues including grant writing and developing collaboration between Head Start and non-profit organizations. Previously, McGrady worked with AmeriCorps as the training coordinator for the southeast and was the Virginia State Head Start Coordinator for the Commonwealth of Virginia Collaboration project. His experience also includes nine years as Head Start Director of the Community Action Start Program in Troy, Alabama. McGrady has been the recipient of the Outstanding Achievement Award from the Virginia Department of Social Services and was selected as Region III Head Start Humanitarian of the Year.
	Pete Meslin has been in the transportation field for 25 years, the last four as director of transportation at Newport-Mesa Unified School District in Southern California. A former IT manager and planner, Meslin brings a unique problem solving, efficiency, and customer service focus to transportation issues. He has helped achieve multi-million dollar cost savings while improving service at multiple districts. Currently chair of the California Association of School Transportation Officials (CASTO) special needs committee and updating the state guide for transporting students with disabilities, Meslin also serves on STN’s editorial board. He is a frequent speaker at national, regional and state conferences on improving transportation management practices and transportation in support of special education.
	Nancy Netherland is a training and technical assistance specialist in the areas of program management and design, child care administration, professional development, and transportation services for the Academy of Educational Development Migrant Head Start Quality Improvement Center. For over 35 years, she has provided comprehensive child care services as a teacher, volunteer, center director, parent educator, field supervisor, and trainer specializing in preschool-aged children. She also developed a competency curriculum to prepare student teachers. An Early Childhood Health and Safety instructor with the Red Cross and a certified child safety seat technician, Nancy developed “Paseos Seguros,” a manual for transportation managers used by Migrant Head Start programs nationwide, as part of the Migrant and Seasonal Head Start Transportation Advisory Work Group. The organization also recently completed Frequently Asked Questions 2001 as an aid to Head Start programs implementing federal transportation regulations.
	Alexandra Robinson is currently the transportation director for the San Diego Unified School District and the past-president of the California Association of School Transportation Supervisors. She was NAPT Region 5 director and serves on the many of the industry’s advisory boards of directors as well as various pupil transportation committees including special needs. Robinson is also a NHTSA-certified Child Passenger Saftey Technician.
	Launi Schmutz has been in transportation for 21 years and is currently the school transportation supervisor for Washington County School Pupil District in St. George, Utah. The past-president of the Utah Association for Pupil Transportation is also a member of the NAPT Board of Directors as director at large. She has written and received many grants for her school district and is active in the NAPT's Special Needs Committee and in the Safe Kids Coalition as well as the Washington County Safety Counsel.
	Bill Schroyer worked through the ranks from at Polk County Schools into Lead Technician for the Lake Wales, Fla. shop. In 1985, he took a position with the Florida Department of Education as a transportation specialist where he was responsible for providing technical assistance and training to Florida’s 67 school districts. In July 1990, Schroyer was promoted to director of fleet management. Since then he has directed the development and implementation of the Florida School Bus Inspection Manual and Inspector Certification program, as well as the state’s school bus specifications. He was also involved in the development and management of Florida’s statewide bid for school buses and was instrumental in the acquisition of two pilot plug-in hybrid school buses for Manatee County. He continues to maintain a leadership position with the Advanced Energy Buyers Consortium that oversees the project.
	Sue Shutrump is supervisor of occupational therapy and physical therapy services for the Trumbull County Educational Service Center in Ohio since 1983. The 2007 recipient of the NAPT Sure-Lok Safe and Secure Special Needs Transportation Award is a certified child passenger safety technician and served on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s curriculum writing committee for Child Passenger Safety Training for School Buses as well as the recent revision committee. She was a member of the Infants Toddlers and Preschoolers Operations Writing Committee for the 13th and 14th National Conferences on School Transportation and also served on the Special Needs Operations Committee for the 14th National Conference. She is a member of the NAPT Special Needs Committee.
	Carol Todecheene is the Transportation Supervisor of the Kayenta Unified School District #27. The district is located near the Four Corners region on the northern part of the Navajo Reservation in Arizona. Todecheene is a Native American of the Din’e tribe; her clan is Mountain tobacco – meaning red running into the water clan — and she was born into the Bitter water clan. She stared her career in transportation as a bus driver. She worked for a private firm driving coach buses for five years. “I missed working with kids,” she said and decided return to the pupil transportation. She drove the Special Needs route for eight years before being promoted to Transportation Supervisor three years ago.
	Ray Trejo is currently the director of transportation for Deming, N.M., Public Schools. While studying education at Western New Mexico University, he volunteered with Hands Across the Border and taught elementary English as a Second Language in Chihuahua, Mexico. After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in elementary education, he taught high school English as a Second Language as well as reading, social studies and math in Spanish. He later received a master's degree in teaching with an emphasis in bilingual education and then a second master's in educational leadership. After teaching for nine years, Mr. Trejo pursued a career in administration as an assistant principal and principal. He recently completed his fourth year as an administrator in the transportation department.
	Cheryl Wolf is a transportation supervisor with the Lafayette, Ind., School Corporation. She has been in pupil transportation for more than 20 years with special needs transportation being her focus. She has served on the board of advisors for the National Conference and Exhibition on Transporting Students with Disabilities and Preschoolers and is currently a tenured faculty member. Currently the Region 3 Director for the National Association of Pupil transportation, Cheryl is also an NAPT associate staff instructor and sits on the board of directors of the School Transportation Association of Indiana as the chairman of the State Special Needs Transportation Committee.
	Jean M. Zimmerman, pediatric physical therapist, is the supervisor of Occupational and Physical Therapy with the School District of Palm Beach County in West Palm Beach, Fla. Jean is a tenured faculty member and presenter at Transporting Students with Special Needs Conference. She also serves as a national advisor and lead judge for the Special Needs Rodeo. A certified passenger safety technician, she was part of the writing team for the original School Bus Specific Child Passenger Safety Curriculum and is a member of the committed updating this curriculum. Jean is an active member of NAPT and is a member of the NAPT Special Needs Committee as well as a member of the board of directors for the Pupil Transportation Safety Institute. Jean is a frequent presenter at national school transportatoin and therapist conferences and has written numerous articles for both industries.